History reconsidered.
Our team’s attention to detail, and years of painstaking research into the history of Lusitania and her tragic demise, has already rewritten history … and this even before the virtual museum experience has even been finished! How has our team, in partnership with top experts in the field, been able to make such breakthroughs? Scroll on to find out.
BACKGROUND
Before Titanic, There Was Lusitania.
The infamous Atlantic liner Lusitania entered service in September 1907 with the British Cunard Line. Together with her slightly younger sister Mauretania, the two ships returned maritime prestige to the British for the first time in a decade. Between 1907 and 1915, Lusitania had an incredible career on the North Atlantic, filled with adventure, romance, and technical ‘firsts’. Even after White Star’s larger liners Olympic and Titanic entered service, the Cunard ‘speedsters’ had a loyal following and lengthy passenger lists. But in May 1915, the passenger liner was torpedoed by a German submarine, sinking in a mere 20 minutes (rather than the oft-quoted 18 minutes), and taking the lives of 1,187 innocent men, women and children (instead of the oft-quoted 1,198).
Recreating a legend requires…
Attention to detail.
Our team at HFX Studios has brought the full weight of their researching and modeling skill sets to bear upon the task of rebuilding the splendor of the legendary Lusitania. We have also partnered with some of the best-known experts in the field to bring the ship to life as no one has seen her since 1915.
WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED:
There is no substitute for quality research.
Since we have begun this project, we have learned that there is no substitute for quality of research. Instead of rushing to slap something together just to proclaim ourselves “the first” at something, we put the legwork into getting the facts right first.
The research that our team has done — led by our historians J. Kent Layton, Tad Fitch, Stuart Williamson, and others — has produced an incomparable understanding of Lusitania: her design, her features, her career, her demise, and its effects.
In a two-pronged approach, while our team researched Lusitania‘s structure and rebuilt the ship from the ground up, our historians were focusing on ensuring that our virtual museum experience would tell the history properly, and in a way that honored those whose lives were touched by Lusitania.
The First Result of our Work:
Perhaps never before has a video game’s depth of research into a historical subject ended up producing an all-new scholarly set of books, books that that lay bare what we’ve learned about the facts along the way.
Lusitania: An Illustrated Biography
Volume One: Life of a Greyhound
(The History Press)
Lusitania‘s history, from conception to career tHROUGH the outset of World War One.
One cannot understand the Lusitania disaster in context until one understands the history of the ship: her origin story, her technical wonders, and her extraordinarily successful seven-and-a-half-year career on the North Atlantic.
In rare photos and full-color illustrations from the early stages of work on our virtual museum experience, this splendid volume brings Lusitania back to life as never before.
Although the book is available from retailers all over the world, we are also offering direct sales (shipping to within the United States only) of special signed & numbered, limited-edition copies of this book. Pick up yours today at the link below!
Lusitania: An Illustrated Biography
Volume Two: A Greyhound’s Downfall
(The History Press)
THE STORY OF LUSTIANIA‘S CAREER DURING WORLD WAR ONE, HER VIOLENT SINKING, AND THE AFTERMATH OF THE DISASTER.
During World War One, Lusitania continued to try and make a go of her civilian career, even as the number of paying passengers declined and economizing measures went into place. On May 1, 1915, she left New York bound for Liverpool, England, on her 202nd crossing of the Atlantic. She never made it…
This book contains not only breathtaking full-color artwork from our virtual museum experience showing how Lusitania went down, and revealing the true horror of that day… it also contains an astounding number of updates to our understanding of the history and events that sad May 7 when she sank.
Although the book is available from retailers all over the world, we are also offering direct sales (shipping to within the United States only) of special signed & numbered, limited-edition copies of this book. Pick up yours today at the link below!
Lusitania: The Greyhound’s Wake
Ensuring that Lusitania is no longer overshadowed…
Real facts, told in context.
Although Lusitania was the first true superliner of the 20th century, sporting new engine technology and unprecedented luxury and comforts, today she is often overshadowed by the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, or marginalized as a one-sentence “cause” to the United States entering World War One. Our virtual museum experience will ensure that Lusitania‘s history is told for years to come. This includes allowing players to explore Lusitania‘s birthplace on the River Clyde in Scotland.
Walk Lusitania‘s Decks and Explore the Lost Liner.
Explore much of the liner, recreated in painstaking detail with special attention to historical accuracy. Her hand-painted artwork, masterfully carved decor, and her stylish 1910’s textiles and patterns have all been meticulously reproduced in this digital museum. This view gives a glimpse of her First Class Dining Saloon.
Striking the right note.
Our team works hard to faithfully reproduce Lusitania‘s interior spaces, always working to hit the right note in bringing history to life again. This view gives a glimpse of the Broadwood grand piano that graced the liner’s First Class Lounge & Music Room, meticulously rebuilt from archival material and now being seen in its original splendor for the first time since 1915.
From First Class to Third
Whether your interest lies in the elegance of Lusitania‘s beautiful First Class interiors (the pinnacle of ocean liner stateliness when she entered service), or her more modest accommodations in Third Class, you will be able to explore the ship in an unhurried way, and learn about life aboard Cunard’s greyhound.
No Stone Left Unturned.
During the 20 minutes that it took for Lusitania to sink, the world changed forever. Never again could civilian passengers expect to be safe in a war zone on a passenger liner under the flag of a belligerent nation. Experience the terror in real time, and watch the events unfold around you as they played out on May 7, 1915.
Partners
To ensure historical accuracy and sincerity, HFX Studios has partnered with several historians, organizations, and groups who work to provide us with references as we build our recreations, to provide corrections as we move forward, and to tailor this experience to correctly match how Lusitania looked on her fateful voyage. The team here at HFX would like to thank the following partners for their assistance.
FAQ
Why are your updates so infrequent?
The answer is two-fold: First, our upcoming virtual museum experience is not “crowd funded”, i.e., paid for by Patrons supporting the game as a standalone project.
Instead, we are self-funding our virtual museum project through our company as we work to share quality material on multiple fronts — including our documentary releases through our YouTube channel “Part-Time Explorer”. This gives us time explore our creativity and, even more important, to make sure we are doing our homework up front — all without being obligated to provide regularly-scheduled updates.
Instead, we invite you to support all of our work by subscribing to our channel or joining our Patreon.
This leads us to the second reason why we do not give more regular updates: competition.
Sadly, the maritime community has grown so toxic and divisive that many finds devolve to a social media game of “firsties”. During the time we have spent on our project, our own internal research has been tapped in order to help competitors get a jump start on their own projects. Because of this, we feel no need to divulge the details of where our research stands or how long it will be before we release the finished virtual museum experience, since this could aid our well-funded and litigious competitors.
Stay tuned for updates and news!
Just remember that we are working on this virtual museum experience every single day, and we do not release updates often. So even if you haven’t seen an update lately, don’t fret: we’re still steaming along nicely.
With that said, make no mistake: Lusitania: The Greyhound’s Wake will be well worth the wait.
Thank you all for your support and patience as we work to make this a quality experience for everyone.
STILL OTHER
Frequently Asked Questions
We are self-funding the project through our company, HFX Studios, as a ‘passion project’. This allows us full freedom to take our time and ensure that this project reaches its full potential. Our YouTube series does have a Patreon, so if you would like to support our work as a whole, you can join us there, or just keep enjoying our documentaries.
Not at this time, but rest assured we’re making rapid progress, and when we’re finished, you will find out in short order!
The answer to this question is multi-faceted, but briefly: Lusitania is a very complex ship to model accurately, with extraordinary sheer and camber. It has also proven MUCH more difficult to accumulate high-quality research materials on her design and construction than would be the case with other, better known ships. Our team is also simultaneously working to produce content that ‘keeps the lights on’ while working on this experience; because our team is not wholly devoted to the creation of this project, it means that the workload has to be divided.
While putting in the legwork up front slows progress, it has also allowed us to refine our skills and research, and this will, in the end, make for a far superior experience when we release.
Yes, we plan to include a real-time sinking level, where you can experience the twenty minutes of terror that unfolded on May 7, 1915. It is being crafted with direct input from a leading panel of Lusitania historians and researchers.
Our environments will also be populated by NPCs (although it’s unlikely any of them will be wearing a blue shirt) that will help bring history to life again.
We are also developing concepts to make the environments more interactive for our passengers. Exploring an empty, quiet ship can be relaxing, but over time engagement and education are important factors.
We will be providing a complete exterior of the ship, explorable interior environments, a real-time sinking mode, a complete virtual museum that places the ship’s history in context, and much more.
We recommend that you check back here regularly, but also make sure to subscribe to our official YouTube channel, Part-Time Explorer, and follow our social media feeds at the links below.
If you need to use the lavatory while you explore, we will not be recommending the use of our virtual Lusitania‘s facilities and, if you try, results aren’t guaranteed.
Photo Gallery
These images give just a taste of what you will see in Lusitania: The Greyhound’s Wake.
